Ping Identity Integrates the VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service from Symantec to Deliver Cloud-Based Authentication with Single Sign-On

Joint solution delivers an easy, cost-effective way to protect enterprise assets, decrease fraud and maintain compliance in the Cloud

SAN FRANCISCO - RSA Conference 2011 - February 14, 2011 - Ping Identity, the leader in Internet Identity Security, today announced it has teamed up with Symantec for its VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service to deliver stronger security solutions for the Cloud. The two have combined forces to ensure that VIP integrates seamlessly with PingFederate. This collaboration creates a solution that enables enterprises to secure their remote workers with strong authentication, while giving them one online identity with Single Sign-On across both internal applications and virtually every leading cloud application.

“The Cloud Security Alliance commends Ping Identity and Symantec for their progress in bringing strong authentication to the Cloud,” said CSA Co-Founder Jim Reavis. “No single vendor will solve all of the cloud identity and security challenges we face. This partnership demonstrates the type of community collaboration that is critical to delivering comprehensive security solutions for the Cloud.”

A recent Forrester Research study commissioned by Symantec found that most IT environments are expanding beyond traditional corporate boundaries and as a result are introducing growing numbers of password problems and security issues. “The recent Forrester study revealed that as more organizations move toward the Cloud, the need for strong authentication and Single Sign-On capabilities will be vital to protecting open enterprise initiatives such as enabling secure partner access and the use of SaaS applications,” said Kerry Loftus, senior director of product management for User Authentication at Symantec. “Symantec and Ping Identity are meeting this need with a solution that is cost effective, scalable and easy to implement.”

“We’ve made deploying strong authentication to large groups of users easier and more affordable to manage and use,” said Ping Identity CTO Patrick Harding. “Our PingFederate Integration Kit for Symantec VIP allows organizations to use PingFederate cloud SSO and VIP authentication in an integrated manner that can be tailored to each organization’s risk model and policies, saving money and increasing application usability.”

The combined VIP-PingFederate solution easily addresses the challenges of scalability and reliability that many organizations face when trying to implement on-premise strong authentication. No additional infrastructure beyond the existing PingFederate deployment is required. The PingFederate Integration kit for VIP connects PingFederate running at an identity provider site with VIP hosted in the Cloud. PingFederate integrates the organization’s directory for the first factor, with a VIP credential (such as a hardware OTP token or mobile phone-based OTP application) acting as the second factor. Once the user is authenticated using corporate credentials and authenticated via VIP, PingFederate generates a SAML or WS-Federation assertion and transmits it directly to the service provider(s) through a secure connection. The service provider(s) then grants the user access to the application. The user is never prompted to log into the application directly, alleviating the need for a separate password to be maintained within each cloud application.

VIP Authentication Service is the leading cloud-based authentication service that enables enterprises to secure online access and transactions to help obtain compliance and reduce fraud risk. A fully hosted strong authentication Security as a Service solution, VIP offers a cost-effective way to give legitimate users access to business resources, enterprise applications and online websites while thwarting identity thieves and e-fraud cartels.